A consolation Puskas award?

With the bicycle kicks of Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo in contention, nobody thought that the Puskás award for the best goal of last season would go to Mohamed Salah. People did not wait to react and scepticism towards the voting was soon made clear. 

Did Salah deserve the award? The thinking is that it was a consolaton prize for someone who attended the ceremonies and someone who deserved some type of recognition. 

It was easy for FIFA to eliminate any trace of doubt towards the vote. They only had to make the participation and the counting of the votes public, though the Egyptian ended up taking 38% of the total votes. 

The Liverpool forward always turns up to the events, tending to smile whether he wins an award or not. The other two protagonists, Bale and Ronaldo, decided not to attend the gala. This makes one think that FIFA wanted to show their appreciation for those who came to the ceremony in London. 

As reported by 'Marca', FIFA were unhappy with the attitude of players who did not attend, including Messi. In addition, Salah was left out of the 'Best XI', despite being one of the three finalists for the main prize. So, Salah deserved to take something home.